Meek Mill’s “Amen” Video Drops, Pastor Takes Boycott To Church

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Judgement day has arrived for Meek Mill’s latest single, “Amen,” and the song’s newly released video. On Monday (July 16) a local pastor kicked off an official protest against the record, from Meek’s Philadelphia hometown.

In the celebratory clip, Mill wakes up in what looks to be a posh mansion amid a throng of scantily-clad women after a marathon night of hard-partying. Amid the fun and raucous times, there are cameos by J. Cole, French Montana, Waka Flocka Flame and Drake, who also delivers a verse on the track.

The song has received criticism for what at least one church leader called blasphemous usage of gospel organs and religious themed lyrics like “She wanna f**k and I say church (Preach).” Pastor Jomo K. Johnson officially kicked off a boycott today (Monday July 16) over what he believes to be Meek’s blatant disrespect of the church. Monday morning, Johnson released a press statement on the matter, questioning the motives of record labels and radio stations while condemning Meek’s lyrics.

“Hip Hop fans can begin to take back the power from Media Moguls and Artists that only care about Money,” he stated. “Today, by making our grievances known to Bruce Demps, Regional VP of Radio One in Philadelphia, we can began to call labels, stations, and artists to a higher standard.”

Johnson also listed seven steps to ensure a successful protest of the song, of which included directly calling radio stations and hitting social media outlets to make it known that the song is “disrespectful to Christians.”

Johnson added that the “Amen” boycott will continue until September 5, 2012 with an aim of seeking an apology from Meek Mill and to “cause a greater awareness in the Hip Hop community of abuse of freedom of speech in the area of religious insensitivity, misogyny, and blasphemy.”

Johnson first made headlines for his criticism over the song during an on-air debate with Meek on Philadelphia radio station Hot 107.9. The rapper took exception to what he viewed as pure publicity-seeking on the part of the pastor.

“This is looking like you’re trying to get famous, or you need some attention, because you could have came to me and said anything you wanted to say,” Meek offered. “I might have helped you. If you needed money for your church, I might have gave you that money. I might have even remixed the song with Kirk Franklin. Anything you wanted to do. [But] you went about it like you’re looking for attention and fame.” —Keith Murphy, CBS Local.